Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like
to thank my wife Amalie for
reading, proofing, re-reading and re-proofing my work this
semester. She probably now knows more about Franz Kafka than any other
Medieval Literature major on this or any other planet.
I want to thank my classmates for putting up with what I'm sure they
thought was an odd and somewhat obscure choice for my papers; especially
Jane Emerton who peer reviewed all of them.
Thanks also to my co-workers at Young & Welshans Books and WFBE who put up
with my ramblings about Kafka, the gracious folks at the University of
Michigan-Flint library and the flight crew of Delta flight #262, who put
up with my chuckling and note-taking on my flight from Cincinnati to San
Diego on March 20th.
Last and in no way least, I want to thank Jan Worth, not only as our
instructor and fearless leader through this semester, but also for putting
up with my Kafka obsession and guiding me through this tangled web that is
my mind.

ABSTRACT
Writer Franz Kafka is perhaps best known for his dark and edgy stories
filled with fantastic settings and almost unbelievable characters. But
what of his sense of humor? Not only do his stories contain passages of
ironic situations, but the dialogues engaged in by the peoples of these
stories have a certain "gallows humor" about them.
In Kafka's first novel, Amerika, the reader is witness to a most unusual
discussion of black coffee as means of maintaining one's job and station
in life. It is a conversation, by the way, that takes place at 3:00 in
the morning, after the main character, Karl Rossman, was beaten literally
senseless by his two former traveling companions.
One of Kafka's best known works, The Metamorphosis, also has its bits and
pieces of subtle humor. Where else but in a Kafka story, this paper
contends, could you find a man turned cockroach, a strange twist in and of
itself, who plays straight- man at times to the "char-woman" brought in to
make his family's lives a little easier. A more unlikely comedy team is
apt to be found no where in modern literature.

FRANZ KAFKA:

The Irony of Laughter

Franz Kafka, born on July 3, 1883 in Bohemia, in the city of Prague, has
been recognized as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.
His works have been called "cloudy, mysterious, inexplicable" (Oates ix).
Most people hear the term Kafkan or Kafkaesque and think of dark,
fantastic tales with almost no basis in our known reality. But what of
Kafka's sense of humor? I personally laughed out loud several times while
reading Kafka's Amerika. Were these snippets of humor part of Kafka's
plan or mere accidents?
According to Roy Pascal, author of Kafka's Narrators: A Study of His
Stories and Sketches, "There is a good deal of humour in these early
stories, as in the novels and later stories, but it is often ambiguous and
can be overlooked" (Pascal 40). The humor that Pascal refers to is not
the usual vaudeville, slap- stick so common in today's society. "Kafka
never laughed so much as he did with [Felix] Weltsch, and it was Weltsch
who first stressed the role of humor in Kafka's work - gallows humor
spiked with desperation, but liberating for them both (Pawel 131). Kafka
was a man who was more subtle than most and preferred his humor in a more
deliberate vein. Irony was a flavor that seemed to work better for Kafka.
By taking a look at some of Kafka's works we can see this irony more
clearly.
In Kafka's short story entitled, "The Judgement," written in 1912, we see
one of the unusual uses of irony by Kafka. The central figure, Georg
Bendemann, has just gotten into a long and somewhat heated argument with
his aging and infirm father. Suddenly Georg's father "threw the blankets
off with a strength that sent them all flying in a moment and sprang erect
in bed. Only one hand touched the ceiling to steady him" (Kafka 84). The
"transformation of the sick father to a grotesque ogre" (Pascal 42) is not
only shocking but comically so. Georg's father goes on to kick and yell
at Georg extensively. Through this entire barrage and beating from his
father the only thought that pops into Georg's head is "he has pockets
even in his shirt" (Kafka 86) referring to his father's nightshirt. This
left turn from the heat of the moment is quirky enough to give the reader
pause and wonder what is going on. Such was Kafka's intent.
Another good example is in the novel Amerika. Here, protagonist Karl
Rossman comes to at 3:00 am after a serious fight with two men, Robinson
and Delamarche, whom he met shortly after his arrival to the United States
from Germany. He wanders out onto the balcony of the apartment he is
trapped in and makes the acquaintance of a student studying on the balcony
next door. Karl discovers the student works at Montly's department store
all day and then studies and goes to school all night. When asked when he
sleeps Karl hears, " 'Oh sleep!' said the student. 'I'll get some sleep
when I'm finished with my studies. I keep myself going on black coffee.
A fine thing black coffee.' 'I don't like black coffee,' said Karl. 'I
don't either', said the student laughing. 'But what could I do without
it? If it weren't for black coffee Montly wouldn't keep me for a minute.
I simply don't know how I would get on in the shop if I didn't have a big
bottle like this under the counter, for I've never dared to risk stopping
the coffee-drinking...'" (Kafka 267). Why does Karl engage in this almost
absurd conversation when he has just come to after being beaten into
unconsciousness? Kafka uses this to reinforce the irony of Karl's
situation and illustrates the absurdity of the entire predicament. Not
only is this a strange conversation to have on one's balcony at 3:00 am,
but it is especially incongruous with the seriousness of Karl's current
predicament.
Ronald Gray, author of the book Franz Kafka, also refers to Karl Rossman
from Amerika. In a scene where Karl is working at the Hotel Occidental as
a lift-operator he describes Kafka's depiction of Rossman at work: "The
instinct to over-act the part, to placate almost to the point of
buffoonery, is finely observed
by Kafka" (74-75).
He goes on to compare this passage almost to the point of being
"Chaplinesque" (75). While Chaplin was developing his slap-stick style
humor at almost the same time that this story was being written, the two
were thousands of miles apart. Kafka chose to use the juxtaposition of
this apparent "buffoonery" against the development of Karl who had been
pretty much portrayed in this story as naive, at worst, and at best,
dedicated almost to the point of being obsessed, to whatever task he was
currently turned to.
In The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses irony flavored with contradiction to
further point out just how far the people involved have fallen out of
touch with reality. The char women in The Metamorphosis is straight out
of vaudeville; with Gregor Samsa, man turned cockroach, playing
straight-man to her boisterous antics . She goes about her duties in the
house, slamming every door she goes through as though to announce her
presence. She talks to Gregor Samsa as though he is the family cat
instead of a giant insect," 'Come along, then, you old dung beetle!' or
"Look at the old dung beetle, then!' " (Kafka 127). The contradiction in
this scene compared to the outright terror and revulsion felt by his
family at the very sight of Gregor is incredible. Then, as Gregor's
corpse is discovered it is of course the char woman who announces "into
the darkness at the top of her voice: 'Just look at this, it's dead; it's
lying here dead and done for!' " (Kafka 136).
Perhaps the best example of Kafka's use of irony is held until the end of
his 1922 story "The Hunger Artist." "The Hunger Artist" is the story of a
man whose "art" is fasting for forty days, to not only show that it can be
done, but that it can be done with style. Greatly admired in his youth,
the artist is now aging and interest in his art is waning. As he grows
despondent over this lack of interest he decides to break the forty day
"rule" and just keep going. As he is about to die from starvation, the
artist is roused by the manager of the sideshow he now exhibits at. With
his final breath he explains his real reason for being a hunger artist
wasn't to be the best hunger artist there was but rather, "Because I
couldn't find the food that I liked. If I had found it, believe me, I
should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else"
(Kafka 277). The crew of Monty Python could not have staged a more
twisted or obtuse ending to this strange story.
While looking at even these few scattered references, it should be clear
that Kafka not only had a sense of humor, strange as it may have been, he
used it with brevity in his writing. Pascal points out, "Yet there is
much humor, even if it is humour of a curious and rather black type"
(Pascal 40). When he did choose to use it, the humor brought out the
absurdity of the situation and thus helped to heighten the tension. It
was also used to create even greater contrasts both in scene and story
line, to further emphasize the darkness felt in so many of his stories.
In closing, I would like to turn to one of Kafka's fellow writers who
first met Kafka at the age of 16, only four years before Kafka's death
from tuberculosis. Gustav Janouch had been very impressed by Kafka's work
The Metamorphosis and was somewhat taken aback at their first meeting. The
two became friends in spite of the almost twenty year difference in their
ages. "Franz Kafka and I laughed long and loud together, that is to say,
if one could describe Franz Kafka's laughter as loud" (Janouch 33).
During one conversation Kafka responded to Januoch's declaration that the
wall of laughter is a "defence against what comes from outside" (Janouch
33). Kafka replies "Is it indeed? Every defence is a retreat, a
withdrawal. A blow at the outside world is always a blow at oneself. For
that reason every concrete wall is only an illusion, which sooner or later
crumbles away. For Inner and Outer belong to each other. Divided, they
become two bewildering aspects of a mystery which we endure but can never
solve" (33).
Kafka saw humor not only as a defense against the pain and anguish he felt
inflicted upon him by the outside world, but also against the pain he
rained upon himself. This was a man who chose words carefully and used
humor sparingly. But when Kafka used humor, as shown here, he used it to
further emphasize the horror of what was going on in his worlds.